Stone beads from ancient Colombia are widespread in museum collections and are commonly found in archeological excavations. Many Indigenous Colombians wear bead necklaces; the Kaggaba people of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta additionally use them for divination. 
  

Indigenous Colombians have rich textile traditions. Mantas—which were used as shawls as well as decorations for homes, tribute payments, and luxury gifts—were among the most valuable, inalienable possessions, and were required to be buried with caciques (rulers) when they died. 
  

Materials valued by Indigenous Colombians are those that relate to the processes and cycles of life, such as feather, shells, and clay. Clay, for example, is linked to the earth; its transformation into ceramic wares through the use of fire is akin to gestation and birth. Quartz, which is translucent and seems to capture light, is used to connect with or hold creative thought.
  

The surface of rotating discs and other items produced in the Nariño area feature geometric designs made of gilded, polished areas alternating with zones that have been scraped or dulled through the application of salts and acids, or blackened zones formed through the oxidation of porous surfaces. 
  

These thirty-three tunjos comprise an offering found by members of the public in the municipality of Suba, near Bogotá. The ceramic pot that held the pieces was found shattered. Ranging from yellow to nearly red, the variety of colors results from differing proportions of gold and copper in the alloy used to make the tunjos. They depict people, animals, and objects (including a basket, spear thrower, and jaguar pelt), with a predominance of women with babies, babies in cradles, and men richly dressed with ornaments and holding weapons. 
  

A myth of the Uwa people relates that bees originally supplied the world with the elements essential for the emergence of life: honey, seeds, and yellow earth (metal ore). The beehive as a whole is associated with the uterus, and the process of smelting ore in a furnace to extract metal is considered comparable to the gestation of an embryo in the womb. 
  

All the pieces seen here were made with a technique known as lost-wax casting. First, the artist makes a wax model of the item they wish to create, then envelops the model in clay. When the clay is fired, the wax melts and drains out, leaving a hollow space inside what is now a ceramic mold. Next, molten metal is poured into the mold, occupying the space left behind by the wax. Once hardened, the mold is broken apart to reveal the finished metal item. 
 

Forests are composed not just of plants, but of soils, waters, rocks, minerals, animals, sounds, colors, and flavors, as well as the human beings who live there. Human inhabitants imbue these forests with symbolic meaning and make practical use of the resources they offer, and in the process shape their very essence. 
  

This series of drawings depicts the continuous transformations and changing relationships of a single tree. It receives and feeds visitors, as its leaves and fruits nourish both animals and the earth alike; it provides a home for birds and shade for beings on the ground. Notice the different colors and textures it wears depending on the light, seasons, and time of day or night. 
  

These four serpentine votive figures, with whiskers and small front legs, likely represent a species of river catfish known as the capitán de la sabana. Similar creatures encircle these bowls, together evoking a watery landscape of lagoons such as those found in the páramos (high altitude moorlands found only in the American tropics).